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Monday, March 01, 2004 |
Michael Doran writes:
The Saudi state is a fragmented entity, divided between the
fiefdoms of the royal family. Among the four or five most powerful
princes, two stand out: Crown Prince Abdullah and his half-brother
Prince Nayef, the interior minister. Relations between these two
leaders are visibly tense. In the United States, Abdullah cuts a higher
profile. But at home in Saudi Arabia, Nayef, who controls the secret
police, casts a longer and darker shadow. Ever since King Fahd's stroke
in 1995, the question of succession has been hanging over the entire
system, but neither prince has enough clout to capture the throne.
NOTE: seems to me that Abdullah, as the reformer, has a big set of cross-hairs on his forehead. [John Robb's Weblog] 
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Googlish Search Tool for Outlook. Find Anything in Outlook in Seconds!
"OK, I'm officially excited. I have so much 'stuff' in so many
folders in Outlook that I often spend way too much time searching. Yes,
I use all sorts of organizational schemes, ctagories, flags, labels,
and other tricks to try to make it obvious (to me) why I filed
something where I did. But, I often end up hiding stuff from the person
who needs it most... me!
Here's an elegant solution. Lookout
gives you the kind of satisfaction Google provides when searching the
web when you need to find anything in your Outlook folders - including
public folders. The program indexes your Outlook .pst files and public
folders and makes everything searchable (and find-able).
Lookout adds a Google-ish toolbar to Outlook and makes finding anything a snap....
It's fast. It's free (for now). And it works." [Marc's Outlook on Productivity, via Scobleizer]
Mostly just a note to myself to remember to install this at work
tomorrow, but it's also interesting to see how Googlefied everything is
becoming these days.
How many new verbs and adjectives can we make up based on Google?.... [The Shifted Librarian]
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Making Citations Easier. A Cite to Delight in
"After enduring a few book projects and several whitepapers, we know
the pain that is footnotes. Apparently, so do the folks over at
Encyclopædia Britannica (example). We’ve noticed recently that they have introduced a helpful feature: Ready-made citations....
While online news sites might not think of themselves as academic
resources, people are turning the Web first for information. Why not do
things that will help them credit you properly?" [Hypergene MediaBlog]
An interesting and very valid idea. In fact, it's probably something
libraries providing primary, digital resources should consider. [The Shifted Librarian]
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Born to Be Mobile. Half the World to Have Mobile Phones by 2015
"Four billion people, or half the world's population, will
communicate using mobile phones by 2015, up from the 1.3 billion or so
who have them now, the industry's top executive predicted on Wednesday.
By 2008, the world will already have two billion mobile users, said
Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive of Finland's Nokia, which
makes about two out of every five name-brand handsets worldwide....
Most of the growth in the mobile phone industry will come for basic
voice communications in emerging markets, especially China, India,
Indonesia, Brazil and Russia, he said. China outpaced the U.S. as the world's largest market for mobile phones almost two years ago....
Ollila of Nokia said that, in developed countries where the
proportion of the population using mobile phones is already high,
wireless communications will overtake fixed-line communications in
terms of the volume of voice call traffic. This is already the case in Italy, the Czech Republic and Portugal, he said." [Reuters, via Daily Palm] [The Shifted Librarian]
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Nice to See the Treo 600 Making a Difference for a Doctor. Treo 600
"After a few months of watching and waiting, I did finally get a
treo 600 It is a useful tool that combines the cellphone and PDA....
While I do find the device useful as a PDA (it's got all of the old standbys installed: epocrates, 5mcc, shots)
... and of course a phone ... the best thing about this device is
something that I thought was just a toy beforehand: Instant Messaging.
Huh? (you say) ..
For physicians who are not always in the office, this device can significantly improve your life. Since I work at the Miracle Center 1/2
time ... and I'm at the office 1/2 time, I'm often getting pages from
one when I'm at the other. I can't leave a meeting, or interrupt a
patient visit to make a phone call, but I CAN respond to an IM quickly
and without too much distraction.
Nurse Kathy and I had several little conversations last week with
IM. It saved me four or five phone calls ... and got her immediate
answers to her patient care questions .. so patients got better
service." [Family Medicine Notes, via PubSub: "treo 600"] [The Shifted Librarian]
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HBR's 2004 Breakthrough Idea #9: The MFA is the New MBA. An arts
degree is now perhaps the hottest credential in the world of business.
Corporate recruiters have begun visiting the top arts grad schools in
search of talent. And this broadened approach has often come at the
expense of more traditional business graduates. For instance, in 1993,
61% of McKinsey’s hires had MBA degrees. Less than a decade later, it
was down to 43%, because McKinsey says other disciplines are just as
valuable in helping new hires perform well at the firm. With
applications climbing and ever more arts grads occupying key corporate
positions, the master of fine arts is becoming the new business degree.
The reason: creativity is now seen as a bigger determinant of success than business logic. [John Robb's Weblog]
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Serving the Higher Numbers. Social Trends in Mobile Useage
"Mobile devices are all about connecting people to other people - so
to gain a deeper understanding of where multiplayer mobile gaming is
headed, I’ve been getting myself up to speed on the key social trends
among mobile users worldwide. A few weeks ago, I ran across an article
called Wireless fosters a societal evolution
that got me thinking about mobility from a different angle. Intrigued,
I ordered the research report referenced in the article: The Mobiles: social evolution in a wireless society.
It’s a fascinating read — and one of the best resources I’ve run across
for understanding worldwide social trends in mobile useage.
In this study, ethnographic researchers looked at how mobile
behavior had changed worldwide from 2000-2002, across a variety of ages
(teens, young adults, older adults) and locations (Australia, China,
Italy, Sweden, Brazil, and the US). One of
their conclusions is that wireless communication changes the nature of
how relationships and community are created and maintained - AND
that these social patterns are tied into how deeply each person has
adopted a 'mobile lifestyle.' Here’s a brief summary of the 'Mobile
LifeStyle Stages' and associated social patterns from this report:
Stage 1) Wireless Why? (low awareness / low integration)
These
people recognize that a mobile lifestyle exists, but they haven’t
decided whether or not they want to be part of it. They haven’t taken
the time or don’t see the need to integrate wireless into their
everyday lives and don’t really think much about that either. Socially,
Stage 1 people use a cellphone to stay in touch with 'intimates' (e.g.
a spouse, family member or close friend) but don’t do much
time-shifting or develop new social patterns - they map their existing
social patterns onto their wireless devices.
Stage 2) The Gadgeteers (high awareness / low integration)
These
people are fascinated with the gadgets, the devices of wireless - but
they haven’t yet smoothly integrated their devices into their lives.
They’re made the decisions to opt into the mobile lifestyle, have only
just begun to actually change their behavior. Socially, a Stage
2 person might use a cellphone to make and confirm last-minute plans,
but is worried about giving up face-to-face contact in favor of mobile
conversations.
Stage 3) The Almost-There’s (high awareness / high integration)
This
group’s mobile devices are highly integrated into their lives, but
they’re still highly conscious of their presence. As they grow more
comfortable with their mobile lifestyle, they will become less aware of
their devices and will move on to the next stage of lifestyle
development. Socially, Stage 3 people are now part of a virtual
community that’s held together by mobile communications. Often, there’
a rush of excitement associated with building a large network of
contacts. During this stage, people’s mobile connections expand
rapidly, often including multiple shallow relationships.
Stage 4) The MOBILES (low awareness / high integration)
These
people integrate wireless into their lives and don’t think much about
it. They’ve had access to wireless devices for a number of years, and
are at a life stage where they’re comfortable with themselves, their
position, and how they choose to live their lives. Socially,
Stage 4 people have moved past the rush of excitement brought on by
mobile connections; they’re comforable with their mobile lifestyle,
they’ve pruned their contact lists, and use it to deepen existing
relationships and maintain a smaller, deeper network." [Many-to-Many]
Obviously libraries have gotten pretty good at serving Stage 1s and
2s, but we have to get better at serving the 3s and 4s. Is your library
preparing for a world with more 3s and 4s in it? [The Shifted Librarian]
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© Copyright 2004 William J. Maya.
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